The focus of this thesis is interactive narratives, a field that has evolved throughout the years as interactive video games have grown more and more popular. The objective of this thesis is to create an understanding of the core elements that constructs a narrative. This knowledge will be used to create a conceptual tool that can benefit a group of designers in the process of designing an interactive narrative. Therefore the problem statement is constructed as follows:
Which core elements are central in game narratives and what is their purpose and effect? And how can these core elements be used in conjunction of a facilitating tool for designing an interactive narrative.
To answer this problem statement the thesis will be structured into three analytical and theoretical segments. Phenomenology will be used as the scientific method, as a big part of the research will deal with experience through the body. Each segment explores a part of the narrative structure to create an understanding of how the core elements function. The first segment explores how the narratives are told, by whom and what effect the narrator will have on the players experience. The second segment seeks to reach an understanding of the games gameflow, meaning how the narrative switches between different gamestates and what it means for the players experience. The final segment deals with gamestructures, how choices can be made a part of the experience and what it means for the player.
The last two chapters of the thesis deals with the tool for designing an interactive narrative, the first constructs a model based upon the knowledge gained through the three theoretical and analytical segments. In the final chapter the conceptual tool is designed and explained, based upon the accumulated knowledge.
The idea behind the concept is to facilitate and to help the user to reflect on how to implement core elements in a story in an effective and meaningful way. The concept will be designed to function in a idea generating phase. The idea behind the concept is an answer to countless games that seems to try and implement core elements in different ways, while a lot of developers seems to be left in the dark when it comes to the story aspect of the game. The idea is to create a tool that will help generate meaningful ideas and help the designers to implement story in a way that supports all aspects of the game.